BusinessDay Media Limited is holding the maiden edition of its Road Construction Summit today at the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Lagos. The theme of the Summit is “The Economics of Innovative Solutions to Road Construction in Nigeria.” Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Power, Works & Housing, is delivering the keynote address as special guest honour.
The summit will interrogate issues around best practices in road construction and proffer lasting solutions. BusinessDay Media Limited, in partnership with Lafarge Africa Plc is convening the summit with industry stakeholders in an engaging and interactive session. Chief Executives of top construction companies in Nigeria, including Julius Berger, CCECC, SETRACO, Commissioners of Works in respective states, Nigerian Society of Engineers, COREN, builders and even regulators are in attendance.
Other distinguished speakers at the event include Mobolaji Oludamilola Balogun, Chairman, Lafarge Plc; Adekunle Abdulrazaq Oyinloye, Managing Director, The Infrastructure Bank; Wolfgang Goetsch, Managing Director, Julius Berger; Dan Osim Asu – Commissioner for works, Cross River State and Toby Okechukwu – Chairman, House Committee on Works, among others. Frank Aigbogun, the Publisher/CEO, BusinessDay is delivering the Welcome Address, while Michel Puchercos, the CEO, Lafarge Africa Plc is making the opening remarks.
The conference will highlight the critical importance, strategic benefits and comparative advantage of adopting and deploying innovative solutions alongside the traditional road construction materials presently utilised in the country.
Roads are the lifelines of a nation and a good network of highways is absolutely essential for the development of trade, commerce and other activities that characterise a vibrant and forward-looking nation.
A well-maintained and managed road network unlocks the region’s productive capacity by linking agricultural areas to national or regional markets, and encourages economic growth and social integration by bringing cities and villages closer together. With this in mind, governments are eager to develop and manage their road networks to meet their economic, political and social needs.
Despite the pivotal role that roads play as a catalyst for economic growth and development, the state of roads in Nigeria has been a cause for concern. Many are not motorable. Even when they are fixed, their lifespan is usually shorter than what obtains in other climes. There have been arguments that stakeholders need to examine the materials used for road construction in Nigeria, with many advocating concrete as a better solution.
In many European countries, notably Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland, concrete roads were built on considerable length of the most heavily trafficked routes. In the USA, nearly 60 per cent of the interstate highway system was built in concrete.
The American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) did a 90-year comparative cost life-cycle-cost analysis. Despite a 15% difference in initial investment on concrete pavement, in comparison with asphalted road, by the end of the 90-year analysis, the cost differential was over 230% more for the asphalted pavement.
Recognising the need to foster competition and thereby ensure economical options, many countries have made it compulsory when calling for road-building tenders, to invite bids on both flexible and concrete specifications. In such cases, concrete roads was the preferred choice in several instances. The wide acceptability of concrete as a road pavement material is mainly due to certain principal advantages it scores over other material forms.
If Nigeria is to make its infrastructure durable and at par with international standards, then there is definite need to shift construction practices from asphalt roads to techno-economically superior road construction materials. For instance, cement roads have a definite edge over asphalt roads in all respects – construction cost, maintenance, service life, among other factors.
Recognising the need to foster competition and thereby ensure economical options, many countries have adopted innovative solutions to road works in order to provide cost-effective and longer lasting solutions to augment and enhance road infrastructure development.
For instance, Nigeria produces more cement than any other country in Africa, over 40 million metric tonnes of cement per annum, representing a massive potential to change the nation’s infrastructure story, taking advantage of the abundant availability of the essential building material.
There have also been concerns about the structural design and the quality of construction with allegations of scant regard for soil quality in the design and construction of specific roads. Experts have also advocated for more attention to be paid to soil stabilization in road construction.
As a way out of this situation, there have been increasing clamour for more private sector participation in road construction in Nigeria. For many, concession is the way out. Globally, contractual models and case studies abound on successful Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in road construction.
It is critically important to explore opportunities with regard to good practices, learn lessons from case studies, and provide guidance on private sector involvement in road financing, provision and management relevant to African countries.
According to the SSATP, There is renewed interest in public-private partnerships (PPP) for infrastructure and service delivery in developing countries. These partnerships enable the public sector to harness the expertise and efficiencies that the private sector can bring to the delivery and management of infrastructure and related services. Over 100 developing countries have implemented a PPP in infrastructure since 2005 of which 50 in transport.
The average total annual private investment in transport projects in Africa during the 2007-2011 period was $750 million, with an average of three projects per year reaching financial closure. In 2012, 83 new transport projects reached financial closure in 12 developing countries.
To date, few road projects have been developed through a PPP in Africa. Yet, funding requirements for needed road investment and maintenance cannot be met entirely through public financing.
Nigeria has a national road network of about 200,000km – the largest in West Africa and the second largest, south of the Sahara. Of this total, federal roads make up 18 per cent (about 35,000km), State roads 15 per cent (about 17,000km), and local government roads 67 per cent (about 150,000km), with most local government roads being unpaved.
The road sector accounts for about 90 percent of all freight and passenger movements in the country. Although the federal road network constitutes 18 per cent of the total national network, it accounts for about 70 per cent of the national vehicular and freight traffic.
With the provision of multiplicity of access, the network of roads in Nigeria remains the backbone of its social and economic activities, as economic development is closely related to the extension and condition of road network.
Generally, roads are considered the country’s biggest public capital asset, representing between 15 and 30 per cent its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Adequate road infrastructure is central to Nigeria’s economic growth; it is at the core of good governance and public welfare. Any improvement in road infrastructure positively impacts the nation’s GDP.
OMOSOMI OMOMIA
